After a small breakfast with Elliot and Maya, Austin walked through the camp to locate Mike. Light smoke filled the camp, accompanied by strong herbal smells. The alchemists of the camp were hard at work preparing elixirs from the materials provided to them by Natasha. Austin carefully walked around their stations as he looked for Mike. Each station was filled with various glass containers of different sizes and open books. Austin was impressed with how many tools for alchemy Natasha was given by her master. He wondered if he had just as many tools in one of his scrolls. Even though he did not show much interest in alchemy, Artas had provided him with the tools and resources to practice it.
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Austin found Mike as he talked with several scouts. Their faces lit up in excitement as Austin approached. Even with the tragedy of the previous day, it seemed like Austin had become some sort of hero. Not only did Austin’s actions contribute to that perception, but Gavin was not shy in telling people that Austin helped him with his technique.
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“You ready to get to work?” Austin asked as he approached Mike.
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Before Mike could respond, one of the scouts had already started talking. “Could you give me pointers on creating a technique? Gavin said you were super helpful.”
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“Not to mention, you were so awesome! It would be so cool to learn from you,” another scout interjected.
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Austin was taken aback by the sudden questioning and was not sure how to respond. He felt as if he did help Gavin, but it was only because they had similar affinities. He was not sure he could make a great teacher outside of that.
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“Calm down,” Mike said to the two scouts. “He might be able to show you later, but we have work to do. Also, you need to work on your affinities before you start thinking about a technique.”
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“Fine,” the first scout moaned in disappointment.
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“Now go on and leave us,” Mike ordered. “We have a lot to do today.”
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As the scouts left the vicinity, Austin said to Mike, “Thanks. I was not sure how to respond. I don’t really feel like I would be that great of a teacher.”
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“I gave you an out today,” Mike smiled. “But you are going to have to learn to accept your role. They look up to you.”
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“I don’t really know how to deal with that,” Austin admitted as the pair started to walk. Their destination was the clearing away from the camp to set up for the funeral.
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“It is a hard thing to deal with,” Mike nodded. “When I was promoted, I was not sure how I would take leadership. But really, it just takes willingness to be there for the people who look towards you and a strong conviction.”
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“I can try to be there for them, but I’m not sure if I have a strong conviction,” Austin said with uncertainty. “I really just want to protect my family. Everything else comes second to me.”
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“I understand that, but maybe you should think about extending that desire to protect to the people here,” Mike suggested. “Your family will always come first, but there are good people here.”
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“I guess I could try to open up and do that,” Austin said halfheartedly.
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“Just a suggestion,” Mike said. “If you give to them, they will give back to you. You may even find it’s in the best interest of your family.”
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The pair continued the rest of their walk in mostly silence. The clearing was not too far from the camp and they arrived quickly. Once they arrived, the two immediately started to get to work. While there were not many lost, they wanted to make a proper pyre for each person and needed a good deal of wood to do so.
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After spending the majority of the morning gathering wood, Mike sat down for a break. Austin joined him and took out a nutrition bar that he carried with him. While not his favorite thing, he figured that the day would be long, and it would be the easiest thing to eat as they worked.
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“I guess you were thinking the same thing as me,” Mike chuckled as he took out his own nutrition bar. “I treat these as a last resort, but it seemed suitable for our work today.”
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“Yeah, I really did not want to eat these anymore,” Austin laughed. “I don’t know what’s worse, the taste or the texture.”
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“It’s all around bad, but it gets the job done,” Mike said before he took a bite of his bar.
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“Better than nothing,” Austin nodded. “So do we need to go back to camp and grab the bodies when we are ready?”
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“No, I have some scouts that will bring them to us in a little bit,” Mike said. “We just have to worry about building the funeral pyres.”
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“A little less work for us,” Austin chuckled.
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“See, a good reason to think about this leader thing,” Mike grinned. “You don’t have to do everything yourself.”
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“Maybe by the end of the day, you’ll have me convinced,” Austin said.
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After a little more small talk while they ate, Austin and Mike got back to work. They started by creating a base for the pyres. They cut the branches and started to knit them together to create the base. Mike showed Austin how to do so. Austin was shocked by the random knowledge that Mike had. After a few tries, Austin was able to get the hang of it.
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As Austin and Mike worked on creating bases, scouts started to show up to deliver the bodies of the fallen. Some of the scouts had the same enthusiastic reaction as the ones before, but Mike quickly shooed them off. They had work to do, and Mike was not going to allow any disruption in the work.
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They finished work on the bases as the last of the bodies arrived. The bases lifted slightly off the ground into a platform. The knitted together branches of the platforms had created a surprisingly sturdy platform. As the scouts left, Austin and Mike carefully lifted the bodies to place them on their own platforms.
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Austin looked over the bodies as they carried them. Most of the dead were young adults. They had barely gotten to experience life before they were thrown into the Survival Game. Their lives were now cut off. His heart felt heavy as he carried the bodies. He did not want the same fate for Elliot, but he also felt like he did not want the same fate for others at the camp. Maybe Mike was right, he should look after the people of the camp. Austin could not accept that their lives were lost so easily. Maybe with his help, they would not be.
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As they placed the last body, Austin moved to grab wood to create a makeshift shelter. Before he could move far, he felt Mike’s tight grip around his arm. Mike gently pulled him downward and sat next to him.
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“You feeling okay?” Mike asked.
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“I’m not sure what you mean,” Austin raised an eyebrow. “I’m not tired and can keep working.”
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“I saw you looking over the bodies,” Mike said. “I know that you did not know them well but loss is not easy.”
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“Oh yeah, that. I guess I was just thinking about how it’s a shame that people so young lost their lives,” Austin sighed. “They barely even got to live.”
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“I understand the feeling,” Mike nodded. “I have seen plenty of young people lose their lives. It’s never easy.”
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“It’s like all that potential is lost. They could have had long, fruitful lives, but they were cut short by those monsters,” Austin’s voice cracked as he grew angry.
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“I know that feeling all too well,” Mike said, placing a comforting hand on Austin’s shoulder. “When I was first given a command, I treated every life lost as my failure. I’m sure you are going through the same feelings.”
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“I just feel like if I were faster or stronger, that I could have protected them,” Austin felt heaviness in his eyes as he spoke. “All I could manage was to force Chet away, but even then, that was because of my anger.”
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“Yep, you are going to feel that way,” Mike said. “But there is something you should remember. If you didn’t help Gavin earlier in the day, the losses would have been much more. You have the ability to help raise up the scouts so they can defend themselves.”
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“I feel like I could only really help Gavin because of our affinities,” Austin said. “I don’t know how I would help others.”
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“I don’t think that is true at all. The other scouts you talked to were inspired by the advice you gave them. Your advice and mentorship do not need to be complicated,” Mike explained.
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“You could be right,” Austin relented. “I’ll do my best to assist them. I don’t want to see more losses.”
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“I can’t promise you that you won’t see any losses, but you could help mitigate them,” Mike gently smiled.
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“I appreciate the talk. You know, it’s like you are mentoring me on how to be a mentor,” Austin chucked.
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“We all have our skills,” Mike shrugged before he stood up. “We should probably get back to work.”
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The two worked hard to finish their preparation of the funeral pyres. With the bodies placed on top of the platforms, they started creating a shelter of branches around the bodies. This was a less difficult process than creating the platforms because they mostly just had to arrange branches so they would burn properly instead of cutting and knitting branches like they did for the platforms. The work did not take nearly as long as the platforms either.
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By the time the pair were finished, each pyre came up in a tent shape made of densely arranged branches. The bodies within could barely be seen, but that was how Mike had planned it. While they did want to perform funeral rites and respect the loss, they did not think it was a good idea for everyone to see the bodies as they did so. Especially because many of the bodies were mutilated with wounds from Andrea’s and Carter’s attacks.
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After finishing, Mike and Austin went back to the camp to rest. They still had a few more hours until the funeral and decided it was best to relax until then. Austin noticed Maya sitting at their area of the camp when he arrived. As he approached, he noticed that she was in mediation. He sat down carefully, not to disturb her, and opened his book on enchantments to work on a review.
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As Maya came out of her meditation, she gave Austin a light jab in the side. He was so enamored by his studies that he was caught off guard by the jab. His book flew into the air as he was startled and jumped. He quickly caught his balance and the book.
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“What was that for?!” Austin exclaimed.
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“You did not think it was a good idea to wake me from my meditation?” Maya glared at Austin.
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“I mean, I just thought you were busy and did not want to interrupt,” Austin stammered in response.
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“Well, maybe I wanted to spend time with you when you got back,” Maya rolled her eyes. “We have not gotten much time together since we entered this camp.”
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“Sorry, I just know there is so much to do,” Austin said. “I thought you were deep in training.”
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“I can take a break from the training to spend time with you,” Maya insisted. “I have plenty of time to train. I just don’t want things to be like they were when you worked.”
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“I know,” Austin hung his head. “I didn’t expect everything to be like this. I don’t want things to be like that again either.”
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Maya placed her hands on Austin’s face and stared into his eyes. “We won’t allow it to be. I’ll catch up to you soon, and then I’ll always be by your side.”
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“I look forward to it,” Austin smiled. Thoughts of the oncoming contest entered his head. He knew that he should remain unbiased, but he did hope that Maya would win one of the weapons. Then their gap would be much smaller.
